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Chapter 5 - Into a Den of Wolves

Iris felt the tension the mount on her the moment she entered the garden of the Rose Villa, where the event was happening. She struggled to maintain her composure, but she knew she could on no account look weak in front of these people.

No one was staring, but it felt as if she was some kind of art piece being scrutinized for flaws. If a flaw revealed itself in front of these people, it would their first and most lasting impression.

It was a proper den of wolves, masked behind beautiful faces and charming smiles.

She distracted herself by observing the way the garden itself was decorated. It was very minimalist, but looked still managed to look very fancy nevertheless. She could tell that effort was put into it with just how everything seemed simple at first, then began to look more detailed the more you observed.

She made it an effort to know about everyone who would be potentially attending the event. She did not want to make a complete fool of herself by not knowing what to call someone. As a result, most of the faces here were already familiar to some extent.

It seemed that most of the members of the Yates family were already present. Their patriarch himself, Carlisle Yates was nowhere to be seen. His second son, Prentice however could be seen greeting guests along with his two sons, Dylan and Alexander.

Clara and her son were nowhere to be seen as well.

She however knew a lot about the two sons of Prentice Yates, without even doing any research. They were famous for being both very attractive and talented businessmen. It was quite certain to her already that the next leader of the Yates Legacy was going to be Dylan Yates. He held the most authority amongst his brother and cousins, and Iris was fairly certain that the patriarch would hand it directly to his grandson.

She recognized Dylan Yates the moment she spotted him among the guests. He was standing with queen Selina, her idol, with a charming smile and greeting the guests of the party.

An ironic smile formed on her face when she thought about them. It felt like a true love's story to most because of how much they loved Selina, but deep down she could not believe it. It was all just so suspicious to her.

It was because she did not believe that Selina would quit her career like that just to marry someone. She was laughed at for being naive, and falling for an idol's PR stunt by even Pierce himself. He was more familiar with how everything worked in the industry, so his words should be believed.

All that was true, however Iris also grew up in a wealthy family, and she knew about their unrealistic standards better than anyone else. In the same way her stepmother Emily was rejected in the high society for attempting to replace her mother, the Yates family would never willingly permit a marriage to a superstar with no proper background.

It was brutal, and she knew. People could make excuses all they wanted about how she did not attend events with her husband because she wanted to be away from the spotlight, or how she was not given a ring from the precious jewels of the family. Her ring was one of the most expensive and talked about the year she got married, but it did not escape her that it was not from the family itself. That alone was a silent rejection of her.

People after all loved to create stories to support whatever it was they wanted to believe, and they believed that Selina had become a true Cinderella, and lived happily ever after with her prince.

That could not have been the case for so many reasons. The uneven power between Dylan and Selina terrified her a little. What would happen if Dylan refused a request of hers, could she even fight back?

Iris sighed heavily and hoped that the sacrifice she made was worth it, for her own sake.

If not.....it meant that her fate was in the palm of Dylan's hands.

She turned to look in Dylan's direction, and as if by magic, his eyes landed on hers. There was an amused smile on his face as he looked at her. Iris forced out one of her own, then looked away as fast as she could.

Even when he looked so relaxed, how did he manage to terrify her like that?!

Well that was what she got for gossiping about him, even though it was in her head!

The most annoying part was that someone caught that and began staring at her as well too.

Iris gritted her teeth and let go of her father's arm. He was in the middle of a conversation with an associate, and looked at her with a hint of surprise.

"Don't bother about me, I just need to visit the ladies room, that's all."

Her father nodded, and let her go. In all honestly, she was getting a little bored with their backhanded compliments. She left his side as discreetly as she could have managed and asked a waiter for directions to the bathroom.

If she would have had her way, she would have stayed there for the entire event, but it could not be done unfortunately. She had to return to her father's side as soon as possible.

She had barely left the bathroom when she saw the long table filled with all sorts of snacks. She hesitated, then finally decided that it would not hurt if she grabbed a bite. She could always text her father her location.

The snacks also looked so very appealing, and not many people were there at the moment. This could have been her only chance to get something to eat in the end.

With that decision made, she moved towards the dessert table.

That however, proved to be a terrible idea in the end.